A Decadent Habits Valentine's Day
by Darkenning
Summary: A pair of vignettes inspired by the season of love. Completely work-safe, but derived from a non-worksafe story.


_Standard issue disclaimer: Akamatsu Ken created and owns Negima. I am not him. This is a parody, protected speech._

**A Decadent Habits Valentine's Day**

_By Way of Introduction_

Quite recently, I read a post made by Shadow Crystal Mage which I thought meant that he was looking for people to submit Valentine's themed shorts for a collection he was compiling. As it happened, he was actually just trying to encourage people to write Valentine's themed shorts period. Well, regardless, I wrote the following vignettes, set at points both past and future in the world of _Decadent Habits/Disturbing Routines/D- ..._ um. Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?

Anyway, have some short meditations on love.

* * *

**The Last Gift**

"Tell me a story," Kitty commanded.

Asuna raised an eyebrow at the tone, but turned to look at the little girl's small collection of books. "Okay, which one would you like me to -"

"Dinnae want any o' those," Kitty groaned. "I _can_ read, y'know."

"Then maybe you ought to?"

Kitty soundly ignored that suggestion. "I want a story told to me. Some story someone told ye."

Asuna's wry look eased a bit as she considered. "Well, most of the stories my mother's told me are a little too spicy for your ears. But there's one that you might like." Her mismatched eyes went distant as she remembered. "Long ago, when man was young, the gods gave to the man called Foresight a woman to wife, who was called All-Gifted, for she was the most perfect woman born. And to celebrate their union, they gave them too a chest which they were never to open."

"A daft gift, that," Kitty complained.

"The gods are like that. Anyway, though All-Gifted was perfect, she was also a woman and thus more curious than her husband. And this being when man was young, there was not much for her to do in the evenings except look at the chest and wonder why they were not supposed to open it. And in the fullness of time, she persuaded her husband that they must open the chest. And so, together, they did." Now Asuna fell silent.

"And wha' was in the chest?" Kitty asked wearily.

"All the evil of the world," Asuna said softly. "Every ill that would ever afflict humanity. Every crime, every hurt, every moment of pain. All loosed on humanity, all at once. Childhood was over, and all that All-Gifted and Hindsight could do was slam the chest shut and weep at their own folly.

"But then. They could hear a knocking on the top of the chest. 'Let me out', cried a voice from within. 'Let me out.'

"'Who calls?' asked All-Gifted. 'Are you one of the horrors in this box that has not yet escaped?'

"'Yes,' answered the voice. 'I am counted among the horrors. Let me out.'

"'Why should we do such a foolish thing?' asked Hindsight.

"'Because I am the greatest of the horrors. I am the horror that terrifies the horrors. I am that which eases the pain that they cause. I am that which gives your lives meaning. You will curse me, yes, but you will bless me, too. I will give you pain, yes, but I will give you joy, too. I am Love. _Let me out._"

Asuna fell silent, waiting for Kitty to ask the obvious question. But she saw that the girl had fallen asleep while she was talking, and felt a bit miffed.

"Did they let her out?" a voice asked from behind her.

Asuna let out a long breath. "You know they did," she said. Then turned to look at Negi with a sad smile on her face. "We're here, aren't we?"

_Alternate Light-Hearted Ending_

"And wasn't it 'Hope' that was the last thing in Pandora's Box?" Negi pressed quizzically. "And Hesiod actually claimed that -"

"Oh, stop being an annoying pedant and come here and kiss me," Asuna said wearily.

He shrugged and did so.

* * *

**Con Te Partiro: Redux**

The tall woman with the mismatched eyes sat on the bluff overlooking the sea, waiting for the wind to change and holding the urn tightly in her hands. She approved of Japanese funerary customs; in land-poor Ostia, they'd had similar ones. As she sat there, she remembered her lost homeland, and mourned it as well.

"Tears flow to the ocean in rivers that carve through stone," she murmured, quoting a favored bit of poetry from her childhood. She'd quoted it to him once. He'd laughed. He'd always laughed a little too much, even before ...

She must remember that, as well. And yet, and yet.

"I still do," she said. "Yes. Despite everything. I think I always will."

The wind shifted, and she opened the urn to let the ashes spill out into the air over the sea. She prayed, to whom she wasn't sure, that the soul once prisoned within would one day find peace.

"Sayonara, otousama," she whispered.

_Alternate Light-Hearted Ending_

At that very moment, the wind changed direction abruptly and blew the ashes right back into her face. As Arika sat there, feeling vaguely stunned, she could swear she heard laughter in the air ...


End file.
